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Characters, Maps, and More!

Since my last blog, the development of Remnants of Dreams has undergone a complete 180!

The most significant change would be in the game engine. I will no longer be using GameMaker, but RPG Maker MV. Thank you The Russian Blue for recommending the software to me! After checking it out I feel in love! I am getting stuck with creating some of the events but I am steadily fixing things with help from YouTube tutorials!

With RPG Maker MV, I have already made a small chunk of Remnants of Dream, and if I do say so myself, I think it is looking great! I especially like the character generator within MV, it’s been amazingly helpful in getting the game off the ground. I was very worried about making sprites but the generator does it all!

Left to Right: Verity, Impatiens, Gladiolus, Lillette, Blossom

Next piece of news, there will be side view battles. I am still working on these but I have created some troops with the default enemy sprites for the start of the game. I was very unsure if I should have battles at all in Remnants of Dream, but after Emily Gegg prompted me to think about them and how they would fit into my game, I just knew we had to have them.

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As for the progress of the game, I’ve completed the opening cut scenes that lead into the start of the game and have almost completed the first area. The first area isn’t that big, but it’s designed that way because the player will be spending most of their time inside Castle Floria where most of the gameplay will take place.

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I guess what comes next is the basis of the game. You play as the insecure main character, Verity, who suddenly finds herself in the fairy world of Floria. You quickly discover that Floria has been affected by your arrival and it is your job to set the world back in order so that the Festival of Rebirth can take place, a festival held every 64185 years so the Goddess can bring an end to Floria so that it, and all its inhabitants, can be reborn again.

As Verity, you must traverse Castle Floria, gathering the ceremonial items used to call the Goddess from the royal family, while learning to overcome your insecurities along the way. How you interact with the royal family will greatly influence the end of the game, with 3 possible endings to discover.

I think that’s all there is to report about the progress I’ve made so far on Remnants of Dream. Once again, if you have any thoughts you’d like to share, leave them in a comment. They are greatly appreciated!

5 thoughts on “Characters, Maps, and More!”

Hi Jacob,
I like how your game is progressing and how you already have some of the battles and the maps already worked out and functional.
I guess all I really have to say this time is maybe take a look at some different ways in which games ‘tackle’ the idea of battles. I see you have gone for a Final Fantasy type battle system.
I suggest taking a look at how Fire Emblem deals with battles. It is similar, but there are some interesting differences. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ghNE5wZqkoQ

Namely, Fire Emblem is more about strategic placement on the map and about knowing what weapons work the best in certain situations. I am aware that your game is more focused on the story and the world exploration, but maybe something interesting will come out of taking a look at ‘mixing up’ the battle mechanics.

I also like the battle mechanics in Xenoblade Chronicles and how players have a ‘battle palette’ where the player can choose what attack to use. https://youtu.be/zQnimwXcV0Q?t=1m42s

Xenoblade is in real time, whereas Fire Emblem is about the strategy, and then your decisions play out.

So, maybe taking a look at some different battle systems may help to create a system that more relates to the story of your game. For instance, in Fire Emblem, you control the units in the ‘army’ because your avatar is a tactician for the royal family, who is fighting armies to retrieve the Fire Emblem.

Hope that helps, or at least gives you something interesting to think about! 🙂

I really like the idea where the game is an analogy of the main character’s psychology. If you remember in class, I brought up the game Eternal Sonata, I would still recommend checking that out, you can find the trailer here: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=EPIthYJXZxI

Perhaps you could research the plot synopsis or even watch bits of a walkthrough on YouTube, as the game really reminds me of your idea. To summarise, the game is about the musician Chopin who before his death, dreams a fantasy world which is an analogy for his subconscious mind. One thing it did interestingly that maybe you could investigate was that it carried on all these musical metaphors and references throughout the fantasy world, reflecting his obsession with – perhaps some of Verity’s obsessions could crop up or be communicated in the world of Floria too?

I’m also interested to hear what past games have influenced your design decisions, and perhaps even what stories have helped shape your story?
All the best!

Hey i like the Idea of your game, wish you luck to finish it, anyway i had this in mind while reading your blog, I was thinking maybe you could put like random drop of item, minigames, or even a fairy pet companion would be good if your thinking of adding some battle scene. anyway good luck.

I also own RPG Marker and it is fantastic!!! This software definitely make life so much easier as it will take care of the art works for you, good thinking! I guess what left is you need to have a good storyline but pretty much that’s it. When I played RPG Maker years ago I remember there’re lots of online community that are willing to share more mobs and some basic storyline, maybe you can look into that.